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Why the Australia of tomorrow needs NBN today

Australia is many things: a lucky country with verdant landscapes and lauded coastlines, the inventor of the greatest condiment ever (vegemite), Kylie Minogue’s stomping ground, and the best place to fry a shrimp on the ‘barbie’ in the world. A leader in fast Internet however, it is not. According to a recent US study, Australian Internet speeds rank 44th in the world behind New Zealand and Spain, among others.

But don’t go throwing in the technology towel and calling for your carrier pigeon just yet; the National Broadband Network (NBN) is being rolled out to help Australians to connect better so that you’ll be able to enjoy faster Internet, and a whole host of new technology in the near future:

1. Entertainment on demand

It’s a fact that broadcast bosses can’t ignore any longer: the future of TV is online. Netflix has confirmed that it will launch in Australia in March this year. In reaction, Foxtel has already slashed its subscription prices while Channel Nine and Fairfax Media have announced their own service, Stan. There’s also iiNet TV with Fetch – a digital IPTV service that is delivered through your broadband connection – you get a personal video recorder, electronic program guide and space for over 585 hours of content.

Online streaming calls for fast Internet. And with download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second — an NBN connection offers not only the speed but also the reliability you need to digest those Game of Thrones episodes as fast as they are released!

2. Mobile payments

The rollout of Apple Pay means that users will be able to store credit card information on new iPhones and tap-and-pay at registers, using the fingerprint scanner for verification. Who wants to be stuck at the counter of a busy café during brunch hour battling with a slow Internet connection? Ain’t nobody got time for that.

3. Online education

We are already witnessing an increase in online training with MOOCS and Cloud LMS providers expanding at a rapid rate. Companies like Pluralsight, Lynda and Udemy all offer access to great online course content for a relatively small investment in comparison to traditional education. App developments targeting ‘in class room’ experiences that bring learning to life are expected to rise.

4. Home Automation

From Insteon’s Hub, which can control everything from lamps to levels of surveillance from your smartphone to the iDevices Switch that allows you to turn on lights from your smartphone, a big trend for 2015 is increased automation around the home. The connected home of the future will have an even greater appetite for faster Internet speeds.

5. Hologram Technology

Just imagine: a smartphone that projects 3D holograms into thin-air!

Well, perhaps you wont have to imagine for much longer: a well-funded startup company called Ostendo promises to do just that, by way of hologram projector chips. Development of the technology is still in its infant stages, meaning the first chip will be limited to only 2D video when it begins shipping in summer 2015. However, the second 3D version is expected to have a unique holographic capability. All your Star Wars dreams will come true.

The future of technology is arriving faster than we realise. But without improvements to Australia’s ageing telecommunications infrastructure you won’t be able to advantage of all these exciting new tech developments. The good news is the NBN is set to change the way Australians access the Internet, with lightning-fast fibre-optic, fixed wireless and satellite technology to be made available in the near future.

93% of customers will be connected via a range of technologies from Fibre to the home FTTB, Fibre to the Building FTTB, Fibre to the Node FTTN and HFC with available speeds up to 100 Mbps depending on the technology made available to them. This is expected to rise to a whopping 1000 megabits per second, making NBN a serious game-changer.

As Australia’s second largest DSL Internet Service Provider and leading challenger in the telecommunications market, iiNet is busy at work connecting Australians to the NBN. Don’t get left behind. When all this great new technology arrives, make sure it gets delivered to your house thanks to iiNet NBN.

Want to know when the NBN is coming to your area? Get on the iiNet NBN wait list to stay up to date.

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